• News
    • Latest news
    • News search
    • Health
    • Finance
    • Food
    • Career news
    • Content series
    • Try Devex Pro
  • Jobs
    • Job search
    • Post a job
    • Employer search
    • CV Writing
    • Upcoming career events
    • Try Career Account
  • Funding
    • Funding search
    • Funding news
  • Talent
    • Candidate search
    • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Events
    • Upcoming and past events
    • Partner on an event
  • Post a job
  • About
      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Contact us
Join DevexSign in
Join DevexSign in

News

  • Latest news
  • News search
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Career news
  • Content series
  • Try Devex Pro

Jobs

  • Job search
  • Post a job
  • Employer search
  • CV Writing
  • Upcoming career events
  • Try Career Account

Funding

  • Funding search
  • Funding news

Talent

  • Candidate search
  • Devex Talent Solutions

Events

  • Upcoming and past events
  • Partner on an event
Post a job

About

  • About us
  • Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising partnerships
  • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Contact us
  • My Devex
  • Update my profile % complete
  • Account & privacy settings
  • My saved jobs
  • Manage newsletters
  • Support
  • Sign out
Latest newsNews searchHealthFinanceFoodCareer newsContent seriesTry Devex Pro
    • News

    Canadian NGO Seeks to Learn From Failures

    By Ivy Mungcal // 17 January 2011

    A Canadian non-governmental organization’s “brave” initiative to publish a report detailing shortcomings in its projects is a step in the right direction and would hopefully jump-start a “more grown-up” dialogue about NGOs and their work, Madeleine Bunting of the Guardian says.

    Engineers Without Borders’ “failure report,” which includes accounts by project officers about the mistakes they committed in activities they oversaw, suggests that NGOs can learn from their own failures, Bunting writes. The report comes with a call for other NGOs to also share their failures.

    Bunting acknowledges that the move is risky as it gives aid skeptics material to fuel their anti-aid argument. But she adds that it appears to be a risk worth taking.

    “A more grown-up conversation about NGOs and their work is overdue,” Bunting argues in the Guardian’s “Poverty Matters” blog.

      Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).

      About the author

      • Ivy Mungcal

        Ivy Mungcal

        As former senior staff writer, Ivy Mungcal contributed to several Devex publications. Her focus is on breaking news, and in particular on global aid reform and trends in the United States, Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas. Before joining Devex in 2009, Ivy produced specialized content for U.S. and U.K.-based business websites.

      Search for articles

      Related Stories

      Canadian aidCanadian aid: A primer

      Canadian aid: A primer

      Devex Pro InsiderDevex Pro Insider: The new kings of American soft power

      Devex Pro Insider: The new kings of American soft power

      Devex NewswireDevex Newswire: Legal pressure on Trump’s foreign aid freeze ramps up

      Devex Newswire: Legal pressure on Trump’s foreign aid freeze ramps up

      Devex NewswireDevex Newswire: New Gaza aid group's controversial plan sparks NGO denials

      Devex Newswire: New Gaza aid group's controversial plan sparks NGO denials

      Most Read

      • 1
        The power of diagnostics to improve mental health
      • 2
        Lasting nutrition and food security needs new funding — and new systems
      • 3
        Opinion: Urgent action is needed to close the mobile gender gap
      • 4
        Supporting community-driven solutions to address breast cancer
      • 5
        The top local employers in Europe
      • News
      • Jobs
      • Funding
      • Talent
      • Events

      Devex is the media platform for the global development community.

      A social enterprise, we connect and inform over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities so you can do more good for more people. We invite you to join us.

      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Post a job
      • Careers at Devex
      • Contact us
      © Copyright 2000 - 2025 Devex|User Agreement|Privacy Statement